Published 7:58 pm, Saturday, June 6, 2015

UConn head football coach Bob Diaco took it upon to himself to contruct “The Civil Conflict” with Central Florida.

UConn head football coach Bob Diaco took it upon to himself to contruct “The Civil Conflict” with Central Florida.

Photo: Michael Dwyer — The Associated Press File Photo

Sunday Gravy: College football rivalries can’t be contrived

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It was wonderful to see the Cubs and Royals last Sunday wear throwback uniforms from the old Federal League, circa 1915. But what truly completed the impression of baseball in yesteryear was the proliferation of neck tattoos.

• Horse racing usually doesn’t do much for me, but, wow, the Belmont Stakes was exciting television. And if American Pharoah’s Triple Crown wasn’t enough, NBC microphones picked up jockey Victor Espinoza’s reaction, which summed the whole thing up perfectly.

“Holy s--t!”

We couldn’t have said it any better.

• Earlier this week, UConn football coach Bob Diaco took it upon himself to construct a rivalry game with Central Florida, dreaming up a name (“The Civil Conflict”) and even cracking his wallet to pony up for a trophy.

We assume his intentions were noble. Diaco, who apparently has more in common with fictional advertising magnate Don Draper than looks, surely envisioned a yearly event that sparked fan fervor; something in the vein of other major college programs that annually contest time-honored gems like The Keg of Nails, The Old Brass Spittoon or the Jeweled Shillelagh.

The execution left much to be desired. Diaco neglected to inform his athletic department of his plan, green-lighting a trophy photo from the UConn football Twitter account that declared only 130 days until The Civil Conflict. He didn’t clear it with UCF, either. The school claims it hasn’t agreed to or had any involvement in planning a trophy game.

But here’s the thing about rivalry trophies. Those not steeped in tradition mostly come off as contrived, especially the ones that don’t even predate ESPN.

And if you’re going down that road, at least have a better working title and gimmick. Why not play for a something a bit more relatable to fan bases in Connecticut and Orlando? Like, say, The Giant Tub of New England Clam Chowder? Or Walt Disney’s Cryogenically Frozen Head?

To Diaco’s credit, he’s gone above and beyond to promote his product to a state quickly losing interest. The lesson here: half-baked trophy games bring scorn. Only winning will bring fans back.

• Steph Curry is a throwback to the 1980s, living proof that someone who plays below the rim can be one of the game’s most dangerous and exciting stars.

• Should LeBron James lead Cleveland to the title, with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love lost to injury, it will undoubtedly be the most impressive individual NBA Finals performance of all time.

• Since we’re making bold statements, there’s no more impressive individual athletic skill than being proficient enough to pitch both lefty and righty in the major leagues, a talent exhibited by recently recalled Oakland reliever Pat Venditte.

• First it was an endless cycle of Rob Lowe, now Hannah and her horse. If the objective of every DirecTV advertising campaign is to slowly but surely stir its audience to exasperation, mission accomplished.

• The Boston Globe reports that the woman struck in the face by a broken bat during Friday night’s game at Fenway Park is expected to survive. Wonderful news. Now, Major League Baseball needs to extend the protective netting along the baselines so this never happens again.

• John Marino, a Yale hockey recruit set to arrive in the fall of 2016, is at the NHL Combine in Buffalo this weekend. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound defenseman is projected as a third-round pick at the NHL Entry Draft later this month.

• The Major League Baseball draft, which celebrates its 50th anniversary, was created as a way to stave off increasing bonus money to amateur players, a fact North Haven’s Dave Bike discovered first hand.

Bike, best known for his 35 seasons as Sacred Heart’s men’s basketball coach, was a star catcher at Notre Dame-Fairfield. He became the first Connecticut native drafted when, 50 years ago Monday, the Tigers took him in the eighth round. He’d long dreamed of playing in the NBA, but signed with Detroit, forgoing a full basketball scholarship to Fordham.

“I was actually a little bit disappointed with the draft,” Bike said. “I got a modest bonus. But being the first year it hurt me a bit in the negotiations. Previously, free agents had more power.”

Today, high school and college players can watch the opening round of the draft on TV and follow the rest online. Bike found out he’d been drafted from the Bridgeport Post; the Tigers called a few days later.

Bike’s baseball career was productive. As the all-star catcher for the Double-A Southern League in 1971, he got to play against Hank Aaron’s Atlanta Braves. A year later, he reached Triple-A Toledo. Former minor league teammates Gene Lamont and Jim Leyland remain friends.

He also has the distinction of being selected ahead of two Hall of Fame pitchers in the ’65 draft.

“That’s my claim to fame,” Bike said. “Detroit took me in the eighth round. Tom Seaver went in the 10th round and Nolan Ryan went in the 12th. The Tigers should have fired that scout.”

• Mason Kukowski, Yale baseball’s closer this spring, was named a Freshman All-American by Louisville Slugger. His stats were impressive, but not as much as his summer plans. He’ll spend time working as a counselor at Camp Kesem, a summer camp for children with a parent or guardian affected by cancer.

• Madison’s Casey Dowd, a recent Siena graduate, was drafted by Major League Lacrosse’s Rochester Rattlers on Thursday. He completed his career ranked fifth in NCAA history for career ground balls and sixth in face-offs won.

• So National Doughnut Day came and went with little fanfare, for me at least. It’s not that I don’t like them. But I prefer to save myself for National Vinegar Pepper Day.